That Was Then
by PunkPinkPower
Summary: The love story of Kanoi Watanabe and Miko Dominae was anything but ordinary. With evil twin brothers, changing times, and extraordinary expectations, it was bound to be chaos from the start.
1. All This Feels

AN: I'm happy to finally introduce That Was Then, my story of Kanoi and Miko. I hope you all enjoy it, and I know, its not my usual, but I hope I can make you all love it. Enjoy, and feed the author!

**That Was Then**

He really didn't like her. He disliked the way she smiled when someone caught her off guard. He was not at all fond of the way she carried herself with her head high as though she deserved to be here. He had never liked the immediate respect her name had gotten from Sensei and the rest of the teachers. What he disliked most of all was that he only disliked her, and couldn't, no matter how hard he tried, bring himself to hate her.

Miko Dominae really grated on his nerves.

The first woman ever to attend the Wind Ninja Academy, she was certainly earning her right to be there. But that didn't mean he had to like it.

She had been placed into nearly all his classes, and he couldn't figure out how she was in most of Liang's at the same time, because he was an earth ninja and Kanoi was an air ninja and what was she? Both? It was ridiculous.

Apparently, she got to take as many classes as she liked until she decided on her element, which made little sense to him because he had just been thrown into them. He hadn't actually asked anyone about it, but he heard the gossip around him.

The gossip. It was already beginning. One woman, and the whole academy was a buzz! They were grown men for crying out loud! They should not be _gossiping_.

Striding away from his elemental class, he heard his name being called but didn't dare look back. It was a woman's voice calling his name, and that could mean only one thing.

"Kanoi!" Miko's dainty voice called after him breathlessly. "Kanoi, will you wait?"

He forced himself to stop, plastered a grin on his face and turned. "Miko. Were you calling me?"

She gave him a look, and then smiled sweetly. "Only 4 times."

"Sorry. Must not have heard you." He told her quickly. "You want something?"

Miko's smile dimmed a bit. "I wanted to apologize."

Kanoi resisted the opportunity to scoff and gave Miko a confused look instead. "What for?"

She reached up and tucked some of her long hair behind her ear, but the breeze just blew it across her face again. "After that whole thing with… Kiya," Miko paused, as though looking to him for reassurance that it was okay to go on. "After… well, everything got sort of rushed and I never got the chance to apologize for the way we met."

Kanoi blinked at her. "The way we met?"

Miko nodded impishly. "I know it must have been embarrassing for you, you know, being beaten by a _girl_ and all." She laughed as though it was funny that she was a girl, and he didn't even want to think about how he would never live it down. "And I just wanted to apologize. I mean, I don't want there to be any… well, bad blood between us, if you'll excuse my phrasing."

Kanoi felt a little off-balance. He'd treated her terribly for the entire week after the incident with his brother and the time traveler, and she was _apologizing_? "I don't know what to say."

Miko looked stricken. "Maybe we could just, start over? I mean, of course we really can't after all of that but… well." She paused, twirled some of her raven hair on her finger and offered a shrug. "I am sorry. No hard feelings?"

She offered her hand, and it would be incredibly rude not to take it. So he did, and he shook her hand lightly and she smiled brightly at him.

"Right. Well, see you at lunch, then." She walked off in the direction of the mess hall, and Kanoi stood there, baffled.

Add that to the list of things he didn't like about Miko; she was far too modest. And she was so, so… irritatingly friendly! It was appalling. Simply appalling.

Kanoi scowled and stalked off after her at a much slower pace, hoping that by the time he reached the mess hall she would be gone. He knew it wasn't really an option, but he could at least let himself steam until he got there.

Or he would have, if he hadn't been promptly knocked over by his rambunctious best friend and his would be attacker.

"I swear, Liang, I'm going to pummel you so badly your own mother won't be able to identify you!" Charlie was flailing his arms wildly at Liang, who had lifted Kanoi back up and was now using him as a shield.

"Come on, Charlie, it was just a small, tiny, practical joke!" Liang insisted, ducking behind Kanoi.

"Oi!" Kanoi halted them with a shout, holding out a hand to keep Charlie at arms length. Looking back over his shoulder at Liang he asked, "What have you done now?"

"Nothing!" Liang insisted at the same time Charlie yelled, "He destroyed my best trousers!"

Liang paused, held up a finger and pointed at Charlie. "Really mate, if you think those were your best trousers we need to do some serious reevaluation of your personal image."

Kanoi rolled his eyes as Charlie scowled. "Do you do this to keep me busy?" Kanoi wondered of Liang, who looked not the slightest bit remorseful. "Why do you insist on pissing off the only person on this campus insane enough to put up with you as a bunk mate?"

Liang shrugged. "I said it was an accident."

Charlie scoffed. "You lit them on fire!"

Liang held up his hands at Kanoi's irate look. "I swear, they were only supposed to change color. I had no idea they'd spontaneously combust like that!"

Liang was a fan of American novelty items, and Charlie was constantly putting up with his experimentation. Of course, Charlie wasn't exactly unenthusiastic about Liang's joking, and he did his fair share of provoking the smaller man into half of his gimmicks.

"What if I'd been wearing them?!" Charlie insisted, still quite livid.

Liang sniggered. "It'd have been spectacularly funny to watch you run down to the lake on fire."

Kanoi whacked him in the stomach. "Not helping." Liang silenced himself and Kanoi looked at Charlie apologetically. "Liang promises to buy you a new pair of trousers to replace the ones he ruined, in return for you not pummeling him beyond recognition."

Charlie raised an eyebrow, shot Liang a look and backed off. "Fine. But you," he pointed at Liang who only looked half interested, "had better watch yourself."

Charlie turned and began stalking away, and Liang called after him. "Right, I'll start sleeping with one eye open straight away, your mercifulness!"

Kanoi sighed. Liang was a day's worth of entertainment by himself. He hardly needed other things to worry about.

"What a pansy," Liang lowered his voice. "They were trousers for Pete's sake. So, where were you headed, then?" He asked, finally releasing Kanoi and stepping beside him.

"Lunch." Kanoi said shortly, then added, "I think."

"Righto, lunch it is." Liang began striding towards the mess hall purposefully, and Kanoi followed.

When they entered the cafeteria it was already buzzing with activity. They went to collect their lunches and Kanoi caught sight of her as they waited in line. She was walking over to a table with several boys in toe. One of them, Carry Thorn he thought, was carrying her tray, and Alan Gray had her bag, and the last two whose names he couldn't remember were walking behind her like puppies trailing after their owner.

"Gawd," Kanoi drawled, starring after them angrily. "That's pathetic."

Liang followed his gaze and sniggered. "Come on, Kanoi. Most of them haven't even _seen_ a woman in years, let alone one like her."

"_One like her_," Kanoi mimicked him, scowling. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Okay, firstly, that was a horrible impression of me. 10 years of friendship, I'd thought you'd have me down better than that." Liang sounded scandalized, which was only typical for Liang. "And secondly, _look at her_, Kanoi."

Kanoi did look, and he really disliked what he saw. Gray was pulling her chair out for her and the rest of her puppies were settling around her. She looked slightly overwhelmed by the attention, but she thanked Gray and began delicately eating her lunch as the boys continually tried to impress her. He rolled his eyes.

"I see a spoiled little girl with absolutely no idea what she's gotten herself into." Kanoi told him. Liang rolled his eyes.

"You're not looking!" He insisted stubbornly. "Look at her, not at what she's surrounded by."

Looking, Kanoi couldn't say she wasn't deserving of the attention she was receiving. Besides being the first woman ever at the academy, she was actually quite attractive. In a purely observational sense, of course.

"Thirdly, she's Miko Dominae!" Liang even sounded impressed, and that didn't happen often. "_Dominae_, as in one of the most influential families in the history of the Ninja Order. She's entitled."

Kanoi frowned at him. "Entitled? Because of her name? I'm a Watanabe, I should be just as entitled as she is!"

Liang smirked. "Are you jealous, or are you fond of her?"

Kanoi couldn't decide which part of that statement enraged him the most. "I am not fond of her!" He was careful to keep his voice down, glancing around for anyone who might be listening. "And why on earth should I be jealous of some spoiled little girl?"

Liang just shrugged, and didn't say anything else as they searched for a table. He did take the side of the table they found that wasn't facing Miko, meaning Kanoi would have to watch her little spectacle for the rest of lunch.

Kanoi just did his best to ignore them, but he couldn't help being disgusted as Miko dropped a chopstick and all four of her puppies stood to get her another. He rolled his eyes as they all offered her napkins and quite literally waited on her.

"Look at them!" Kanoi finally ordered Liang. "_Fawning_ over her. It's not even her that upsets me! It's how ridiculous she's making everyone else act!"

Liang just sniggered. "You know, I think I've discovered the reason women were band from the academy in the first place."

Kanoi looked at him, waiting for an answer.

Grinned, he whispered in a conspiratorial stage voice, "It's the hormones."

Kanoi rolled his eyes at his friend and tossed a carrot at him.

"What about the hormones?" Chin-Hwa asked as he pulled up a chair and sat next to them.

"Kanoi's got some, and he's denying it." Liang informed him. Kanoi tossed another vegetable at him.

"I most certainly do not!" He objected, and he glanced maliciously over at Miko. "Absolutely not for her."

"Good." Chin-Hwa glanced over at Miko and back at Kanoi with a grin. "Because if I catch you hitting on my cousin you'll never hear the end of it."

Kanoi rolled his eyes. Chin-Hwa Dominae was his dorm mate and, coincidentally, Miko's cousin. He was, quite possibly, the only person on campus who couldn't stand Miko anymore than he could. They had discussed it vehemently several times since her arrival.

"Not to worry." Kanoi assured him. "If I'm lucky I won't be setting foot anywhere near your cousin."

"Kanoi and Miko sitting in a tree…" Liang began. Kanoi was about to reach over to smack him, but Chin-Hwa did it for him. "Ow!"

"Mature." Kanoi scolded, but Liang was irrepressible.

"Yeah, and when you finally admit to liking her, I'm going to remind you of this day." Liang laughed.

Kanoi actually laughed. "Right. Pigs'll fly first."

Liang looked at his plate, grabbed a pig in a blanket from it and picked up his spoon. Placing the pig in a blanket on his spoon, he pulled it back and launched it at Kanoi.

Kanoi ducked, and the piggy in a blanket flew over his head and landed on someone else's.

"Look away, look away!" Liang ordered frantically, and they all broke out into muffled sniggering.

Chin-Hwa was grinning from ear to ear. "What was that about pigs flying?"

* * *

She was beginning to think that being the very first woman ever to train at the academies might have been a bad idea.

As Miko darted around a tent and down into the trees she stumbled and rolled, coming up, she swung around a branch and smacked straight into something hard and fleshy.

She cursed for the sheer feel of it as they hit the ground, and toppled off whoever she'd just knocked over and landed face down next to him.

Of all people, it had to be Kanoi Watanabe. He looked startled and stunned, but as soon as he caught sight of her his eyes narrowed and his glare burned into her. She felt herself blushing as she lie next to him.

"Sorry," she said quietly. Kanoi let out a low growl as he pushed himself up to his feet. Miko followed as quickly as she could and brushed her tussled hair out of her face.

She froze solid when she saw Kanoi standing there shirtless, and she tried to keep her cheeks from growing any redder as she averted her eyes.

"What the blazes are you doing running through the forest like that?" Kanoi asked her as he brushed his well toned chest off. "Or haven't you learned your lesson yet about walking alone in secluded areas?"

Miko did her best not to scowl. "I was only trying to get away from _them_." She gestured obnoxiously, and the very thought of all those boys made her blood boil.

Many of the boys were tolerable, some even nice. Others refused to leave her alone and while they were very likable young men, they seemed to be laboring under the impression that she could do nothing for herself, and she was growing quite tired of it.

Kanoi was looking at her strangely, but he looked back the way she'd come before questioning her. "Them?"

"You know quite well what I'm talking about." Miko scolded, and she swore she saw the corner of Kanoi's lip turn up. "The whole lot of them follows me around like a bunch of lovesick fools."

Kanoi gave her an unreadable look.

"What?" She asked, perturbed.

Kanoi turned his face away. "Nothing. Just figured you enjoyed it more than not."

Miko sputtered. All her lady training wasn't going to do her any good here. "Enjoyed it? You can't be serious!"

Kanoi went to retrieve his shirt, which was handing on one of the nearby branches. "Why else would you put up with it?"

"Well for one thing I can't get _away_ from it." Miko explained. "I haven't had a moment's peace since… well…" She trailed off, unwilling to say when her last moment of peace had really been.

Kanoi didn't need her to, either. She tried not to watch him put his shirt on, but looked his squarely in the face when he turned around. "There are tricks for avoiding that sort of thing you know."

Miko frowned. "Tricks? Like what?"

Kanoi picked up his staff with a decidedly smug look and answered, "Don't go to an all male school."

Miko took a deep breathe and smiled. "In case it has slipped past your notice, it isn't an all male school any longer."

There was a moment of pure electricity between them as Kanoi's traditional sense fought with Miko's motive for change, and both refused to drop their eyes and surrender.

Neither of them had to. A call from the way she had come made them both look away.

"Oh, damn." She sighed. "I'd better go." She bowed politely and began to walk off, but Kanoi's staff swung out in front of her and stopped her. "Excuse you," she began, but Kanoi walked in front of her and pushed her back before she could object. She grabbed out for the staff to fight him back, but he had already pinned her against a tree and her heart was beating wildly in her chest. "What-"

"There are other tricks." Kanoi whispered to her.

"I don't under-" Miko tried to push him back, but he was right up close to her, locking her to the base of the tree, his staff and their hands the only things between them.

"Hold perfectly still." Kanoi instructed. "And don't make a sound."

She closed her mouth in something like nervous fear as her stomach twisted, but luckily Alan Gray came stomping through the trees at that moment and surely Kanoi wouldn't do anything to her with Alan right there.

Kanoi didn't move, except to raise his eyebrows at her. Their eyes locked, and her breath hitched in her throat at being so close to him.

She held still as he had instructed and was shocked when Alan did a full circle, looked directly at her, and then kept on walking calling her name.

After a moment, it clicked what Kanoi had done. He hadn't been trying to take advantage of her after all. He'd been hiding her from her pursuer.

Kanoi stepped away from her, cleared his throat and turned away. Miko smoothed out her uniform and followed him.

"Kanoi?" She asked, and he stopped. "How did you do that?"

Kanoi turned ever so slightly to regard her with mild interest. "It's called an elemental shield, and Gray just happens to be horrible a reading them. It won't work on everyone."

Miko tucked her hair behind her ear and nodded. "Thank you."

Kanoi shrugged. "You're welcome." He looked uncomfortable, and he began to head off and up the hill when she realized she'd interrupted his practice.

"Could you show me?" Miko called up after him.

Kanoi stopped again and turned. "What?"

She jogged up the hill a ways to stand next to him. "Could you teach me how to do that?"

Kanoi looked confused. "You'll learn it in your second year elemental class."

Miko smiled and rolled her eyes. "Yes, but I'd like to know how to do it now. Could you teach me? Please?"

Kanoi looked uncomfortable again. He looked around as though to make sure no one was around before looked back at her with a pensive expression. "Maybe."

"Maybe?" Miko repeated.

Kanoi nodded. "Maybe."

He turned to walk away again, but Miko called out after him. "What exactly is it dependant on?"

Kanoi didn't even stop this time as he called back over his shoulder. "How long I can tolerate your company."

Miko scowled at his back as he strode away. The one boy on campus not completely enthralled by her, the one boy she could possibly have a normal conversation with and he wanted absolutely nothing to do with her.

Fate was unfair.


	2. Strange and Untrue

_AN: I am beginning to really like Kanoi and Miko. I think the story should progress more smoothly after this chapter, cause this one was a little hard to finish. Still, read and review, let me know what you think! :)_

What the sodding hell had he just done? Had he actually, even for a second, considered spending a lengthy amount of time with Miko Dominae?

Well, he was insane, if that was the case. Why had he even helped her escape from Gray?

She had surprised him, that's why. By telling him that she disliked exactly what made him dislike her, she had tricked him into helping her.

He wasn't going to show her the elemental shield. She could learn that from any second year on campus, and it wasn't going to be him. It probably wouldn't help her that much, anyway. There was no way he was going to get sucked into her act of friendly banter and normalcy.

Annoyingly, he still didn't hate her.

Grumbling to himself, Kanoi made his way back to his tent. He flung the tent flap open, tossed his practice staff against the edge of the tent and kicked his trunk.

Chin-Hwa was lying on the bed reading a book, and he didn't even look up as Kanoi sat down on his bed and fumed loudly.

As he turned a page he asked with a note of disinterest in his voice, "What's got your panties all in a twist?"

Kanoi was silent for a moment as he frowned. "I've just had a run in with her."

Chin-Hwa looked away from his book for the first time. Obviously, there was only one her on campus that he could mean, and suddenly he was interested. "And?"

"I think I've just agreed to help her train." Kanoi announced. Chin-Hwa was silent. "Assuming I didn't completely offend her in the process."

Chin-Hwa looked thoughtful. "Ah," was all he said.

Kanoi waited, but he didn't continue. "Ah? That's it? No snappy remark, or indignant reply?"

Chin-Hwa sighed heavily. "Not really. I mean, it's not really my problem, is it?"

Kanoi shrugged.

"Unless of course you're actually fond of her, like Liang was saying this morning." Chin-Hwa didn't so much as grin as he turned his eyes back to his book.

"I'm not." Kanoi insisted. "And I'm not going to do it, anyway. The less time I have to spend with her, the better."

"Right." Chin-Hwa agreed. "Wouldn't want you acting like the hormone crazed teenager you are."

Kanoi ignored him and lay down on his bed, crossing his arms behind his head. "I'm not going to help her."

"Whatever you say mate." Chin-Hwa nodded, and returned to reading his novel. They were silent for several minutes.

"It's not like she needs my help, anyway." Kanoi continued, and he heard Chin-Hwa sigh. "She's already beaten me in combat."

"Yes, as a masked warrior you had nothing against, who was fighting like a samurai." Chin-Hwa pointed out dispassionately. "On the field, with a bokken, that woman is unbeatable. But in class, with no weapon, she leaves something to be desired."

Kanoi considered this. He had tried not to pay attention to how well Miko was doing in his class. In fact, he hadn't been paying attention to her at all until today, when on two separate occasions she had invaded his space and only made him dislike her more.

Miko was a highly skilled warrior, and he supposed he should respect that. And she had said that she didn't like the way she was making the rest of the school act anymore than he did. Or at least something comparable to that. He supposed there was really no harm in teaching her that one thing. He still didn't particularly want to, but something in his gut was telling him that as long as he was on Miko's radar he wasn't going to be able to just avoid and ignore her. He either had to learn to tolerate her, or make it clear that it was not okay for her to talk to him. And frankly, he just wasn't going to be that rude to a girl. Some habits died hard.

"I don't suppose I really can just avoid her, can I?" Kanoi asked Chin-Hwa.

"You do realize that you are possibly that only man on campus who would want to, don't you?" Chin-Hwa sounded annoyed for the first time, and Kanoi looked over at him to make sure.

"Besides you." He argued. Chin-Hwa rolled his eyes.

"I'm family." Chin-Hwa's tone was neutral again. "I get to choose my friends, not my relatives. What's your excuse?"

Kanoi glared over at him halfheartedly. "We've been over this. I just don't like her."

"Ah." Chin-Hwa made another noncommittal sound. Kanoi sighed.

"No point. Not doing it. Discussion over." He announced.

Chin-Hwa let out a puff of air. "Just do me a favor, would you?" He still didn't look up from his book. "Wait about two weeks before you admit you fancy her, cause Liang and I have a bet going."

Kanoi tossed his pillow at him. Chin-Hwa was unfazed, and he let the pillow fall to the floor.

He sighed dramatically as he turned another page of his book. Then, sadly, "So it begins."

* * *

Chin-Hwa was ridiculous. There was absolutely no way he had a soft spot for Miko, and he was unsure why all of his friends seemed to think that his utter distaste for her meant the exact opposite.

They were like a bunch of gaggling geese, and they refused to let it die.

Standing in class the next day, Kanoi did his best to avoid any and all contact with Miko. Unfortunately, fate and Sensei Liu seemed to have a different plan.

"In the American way, we shall call it a pop quiz." Liu was explaining. "Five at a time, until all 20 of you have gone, and each shall perform different kata's."

There was no audible objection, but one glance at the students told him all he needed to know. No one was going to pass Liu's version of a pop quiz.

"We will begin with Fow, Brat, Young, MacMillan, and Kasamatsu." Sensei Liu moved in front of each person individually, and all five of them stepped forward. "You will be running the Bassai Dai. Begin!"

The Bassai Dai wasn't exactly difficult, but it was hardly child's play. Young had messed up visibly by the fifth stance, and MacMillan was following him so he got pretty lost after that. Jordy Fow was leading the group, but to his credit Shen Kasamatsu was staring straight ahead and managing to hold his own. By the time they were done with the 4 minute progression of movements, Kanoi would have estimated that Jordy passed with flying colors, Shen had lost a few points on his precision but his execution was worth the credit, Brat got by on the skin of his teeth, and Young and MacMillan had failed all together.

Sensei Liu did not look pleased, and the next round of Kata's did not look promising.

"Montoya, Etsuko, Brown, Watanabe," Liu read off, and Kanoi tried not to grimace as his name was called. Liu hesitated, and then finally, "and Dominae."

Kanoi did grimace that time. Sensei Liu was one of the best Ninja Master's Kanoi had ever known, but he was all about tradition and he was certainly not fond of the idea of women training to be ninjas.

Which meant they would get the hardest kata in the class just so he could watch Miko fail. It was another way in which Miko Dominae was complicating his life.

As they stepped forward and assumed a neutral stance, Sensei Liu glanced over them as he made marks on a paper. "I should hope you are able to perform the Gankaku better than the last group performed the Bassai Dai. Begin!"

The Gankaku was more about execution than fluidity, but the footwork made it nearly impossible to execute the proper handwork. Kanoi knew the Kata well enough to get through it, but beside him he could feel Miko struggling. In all honesty, he had figured standing next to her would make him look better. Now he felt bad about making her look worse.

Miko was a good fighter. The problem with being trained as a Samurai and then coming to train as a ninja was that the principles were the same and an Age-zuki and a Jodan-choku-zuki _meant_ the same thing but the execution was entirely different. The orientation of the hands and the angle of the foot was a large part of technique, and Miko's was almost entirely wrong. While she might be getting the basic moves down she looked entirely out of place and Kanoi thought she knew it.

As they rounded the last kick to face forward and hold their position, he saw Eric Montoya stumble out of the corner of his eye. Sensei Liu caught it to.

"After nearly a year of training under my instruction, I find it difficult to believe that you have not yet mastered even a basic understanding of holding your ground, Montoya." Liu headed for him and with one swift movement knocked him backwards. "You will stand and try to hold you ground. Even for an air ninja, I should expect some concept of stable feet." The other students made a few sounds of approval, and Kanoi took the chance to inspect the positions of the other members of his group.

Kimari Etsuko's posture was atrocious, worth a least a five point mark down. Robert Brown looked exactly as he should, his hands held high and the hand at his side curled tightly into a fist… it was only in comparison that Miko looked as off balance as she was.

Her upper hand was facing down instead of out, and instead of the hand at her waist being curled into a fist it was in Kentsui form. Kanoi bit his tongue hard to keep himself from correcting her. If he was caught, it would be bad for both of them, and not just with Sensei Liu. And even if he wasn't, no good could come of helping Miko Dominae upstage him.

Still, the honorable side of his ninja self won out, and when Sensei Liu was knocking Eric down for the third time Kanoi let his foot quickly tap Miko's leg.

She looked, and he quickly nodded up to his hand to show her what she was doing wrong. He flipped it back and forth between the position her hand was in and the correct one twice. Miko gasped and fixed her hand. Liu was threatening to kick Eric out of class unless he could plant his feet correctly, and Kanoi showed Miko the problem with her other hand.

She corrected it, looked Kanoi up and down once to make sure she wasn't missing anything else and then looked straight ahead once more. Kanoi quickly did the same.

He felt like such a rotten _nice_ guy.

Eric didn't manage to hold his ground the fourth time, and Sensei Liu was finished bothering with him.

"If you feel the need to return to my class, you will have to pass the same test before you will be permitted. I will inform Sensei Kwan of your entrance into his beginning elemental earth class." Sensei Liu simply pointed in the direction of the rest of campus, and Eric barely remember to bow before he stormed off.

Kanoi resisted the urge to shake his head at the immaturity of it all. Sensei Liu was sometimes no better than Eric.

"Now, to see how the rest of you ended up." Sensei Liu walked along the line of the four remaining students. He nodded at Etsuko and fixed his posture before smacking him over the back of the head and telling him to come to his sunrise meditation for the next week. He reached Kanoi and nodded appreciatively. There were no compliments expressed, but that wasn't Sensei Liu's style.

He reached Miko and paused. He inspected her feet positions, her hands and her posture, and when he could find nothing wrong, sneered in distaste.

"Well done, Dominae." The reply was grudging at best, but even so made Kanoi's ears burn. _She gets a compliment?_

He acknowledged Brown before he sent them back to their positions and called up the next group. Kanoi stood calmly as he listened to Liu rattle off his instructions but inside he felt incredibly furious with himself. He should have let her fail like everyone expected her to. Would have served her right.

He felt someone looking at him, so he turned his head first to his right and then, grudgingly, to his left to check. He shouldn't really have been surprised to see Miko's head ducking out ever so slightly from the row to catch his eye.

She offered him a small smile, and then she mouthed the words _Thank you_.

Kanoi looked away with no expression.

* * *

As she watched Kanoi stalk off from the training area, Miko seriously considered going after him. He hadn't spoken to her a bit, but for some reason he had completely saved her at the end of that kata. She wasn't sure why, but she wanted to know.

Kanoi was gone by the time she had grabbed her bag and attempted to follow him. She paused for a few moments as she watched the other students move around her. She saw Alan heading towards her and quickly turned to walk away before he could catch up.

Points for persistence, she supposed. Wasn't that a nice way of calling it stalking? At this point, she was just trying to avoid him at all costs.

At least some of the others had left her alone when she had asked. Some of the boys seemed convinced that she reciprocated their feelings, and it was annoying but also embarrassing. Miko just wasn't the kind of person to be harsh with them, and unfortunately Gray and a few others refused to take the hint.

At least she wasn't lonely.

She headed for Chin-Hwa's tent, which she knew he shared with Kanoi. The odds were Kanoi had headed back there, anyway, so maybe she'd see him before having to deal with her obnoxious cousin.

She stopped outside their tent and waited a moment before calling, "Kanoi? Chin-Hwa? Are you in there?"

The curtain swung open and her cousin was standing there looking at her suspiciously. "Is this an emergency?"

Miko frowned at him. "Well, no-"

"What did I tell you about talking to me unless it was an emergency?" Chin-Hwa interrupted. Miko rolled her eyes.

"Is Kanoi in there?" She asked instead. Chin-Hwa opened the curtain for her to see. Kanoi was nowhere in sight. "Do you know where he is?" She asked instead.

Chin-Hwa stepped out fully from his tent and crossed his arms. He gave her a calculating look. "Why you looking for him?"

Miko took a deep breath and attempted to humor her cousin. "He's just done something very considerate for me and I'd like to return the favor."

Chin-Hwa sighed dramatically and rubbed his eyes. "I'm never going to make the two weeks… damn, that's 50 bucks…"

"Excuse me?" Miko asked, hearing only partial words he was saying.

Chin-Hwa looked up reluctantly. "Look, if you really want to repay him the favor, I'd suggest just leaving him alone. Really, best thing you could do for him."

Miko gave him a look that clearly showed she was not amused.

"Of course, if you'd rather find him," Chin-Hwa drawled with a smirk, "he likes to train in his solitude down by the forest about this time every day. Very predictable, Kanoi."

Miko grinned at him. "Thank you, cousin. Was that really so difficult?"

"Being your cousin is what's difficult." Chin-Hwa argued. "Have you any idea what I've had to put up with since you started poking your nose around here?"

Miko rolled her eyes as she turned to walk away. "No, I can't imagine the_ horrors_ you've been through, Chin-Hwa."

As she walked away, he called to her, "You know sarcasm is not a good look on a woman. You might consider leaving it to the men who invented it."

Miko scoffed and called over her should. "Like training to be a ninja?" She looked to see his face cringe. "Sorry, that's really not my style."

"Hey, don't you tell him I told you where he was!" Chin-Hwa called, but she waved a hand over her shoulder and headed for the ravine without a response.

* * *

"Do you realize that's the third time you've saved my skin since we met?"

He heard the voice and tried unsuccessfully to keep himself from snarling. He set down his staff and stood, bringing his palm up to his fist and bowing to an imaginary opponent.

"I didn't mean to interrupt." The voice sounded apologetic now, and he rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I'm sure you had the best intentions." He shot back. He began picking up his things with all intentions of leaving to find a new, more secretive place to practice.

"Why do you do it?" She asked. He glanced over his shoulder to look at Miko with distaste, but she was staring him down with a practiced eye.

"Do what?" He asked instead, looking away.

"You know exactly what I mean." Miko shot back indignantly. "If you actually loathe me as you suggest you do, why help me? Why protect me from Lothor, or help me evade Alan? Why today did you spare me the wrath of the most sexist, bigoted teacher on this campus?" Miko asked, as she leaned against the tree Kanoi had hung his things on.

Kanoi sighed, and then looked at her with a carefully practiced smile. "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

Miko snorted. "Alright, so when are you going to show me that block?"

"I'm not." Kanoi patted her on the head and turned. "Have someone else teach you how to hide from the boys; I've got rather better things to do."

"Like practice a kata all by yourself in the middle of nowhere for hours?" Miko sounded disbelieving, and Kanoi turned to her vehemently.

"Yes, as a matter of fact." Kanoi answered. "Maybe if you practiced more you wouldn't be so behind in Liu's class."

Miko scowled. "I'm not behind! Not in the sense that he hasn't taken any time to actually _teach_ me anything, so how can I be behind when I've had to pick it up all by myself?"

"What, you expect all the teachers to give you special privilege? You want them to take time out to walk you through everything like a child?" Kanoi scolded her, but it seemed to have the opposite effect he intended. She came at him and smacked him on the arm.

"I expect to be treated like every other student here!" She told him, smacking his arm again. "I've been dropped into these classes in the middle of the year, Kanoi! I applied to the academy at the same time as all the other new students, but they waited to accept _me _and now I'm behind in all my classes and everyone thinks exactly the way you do." She flailed her arms dramatically. "If you think it's so easy and fun to be me, you should come down off your pedestal and try it some time!"

Kanoi sputtered. "Pedestal?"

Miko continued as though he hadn't spoken. "They're trying to fail me because I'm a woman, but I don't expect someone like you to understand that."

"Honestly, you think the whole world is out to get you, don't you?" Kanoi almost laughed at her. "Paranoid much?"

"Oh, never you mind." Miko let out a frustrated growl. "I came down here to thank you, you know." She admitted as she trudged up the hill. "I don't suppose there's any point in that, is there?"

"Someone like me?" Her words finally caught up to him, and he repeated them indignantly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Miko turned, letting out something that sounded like a laugh. "It means I can't figure you out! First, you act as though I've insulted you when we first met. Then you save me from your brother, and then avoid me for nearly a week. Now you're going back and forth between helping me and insulting me, and I've really no idea what it is you think you're up to."

"You're-" Kanoi sputtered, hesitated, and then, "You ju-" and he paused again, unsure how he could make himself seem sane in any way at this point. He was certain of one thing, and that was that he could only make himself less credible the more he opened his mouth, so he settled for just shutting it.

They stood there for a moment, and then finally Miko asked, "Well?"

Kanoi opened his mouth, closed it, and scratched the back of his head. The words that came out of his mouth surprised even himself. "You wanted to learn the elemental block?"


	3. And I Won't

_AN: I have no clue why I like to torture air ninjas so much. All I know is that this is only the beginning for Kanoi. I hope to get this one updated more frequently now that I have compy back, but we'll see. As always, read and review!_

Well. He continued to surprise her.

Miko blinked, opened her mouth, and closed it again. It seemed whatever linguistic defect Kanoi had was contagious, because she suddenly found herself speechless.

"What?" She managed to get out at last.

Kanoi shrugged, and then pointed a finger at her. "I'm not gonna ask again."

Miko stared at him, and at last she just nodded. Kanoi turned and headed back down the hill to his practice area, and stopped when he was almost out of her sight.

"You coming?" He asked. Miko shook her head to clear it and followed him down the hill.

And he showed her the elemental block. Just like that. Like they hadn't spent the last few days arguing about it. Like it was no big deal.

She wasn't very good at it, of course. Every time she managed it Kanoi could completely see her, but he knew she was doing it right. He had mentioned before that it only worked on the most inexperienced of ninjas, which didn't leave much to be said for her as every time Kanoi did it she couldn't see him in the slightest.

It was different from stealthing, he told her. Because stealthing was meant to be a mobile tactic used against other ninjas, and the elemental block was more about protecting yourself from a curious eye, as the holograms at the entrances to the academy were supposed to do. It wasn't actually very useful or practical, but it was still something fun to learn, and since the first time she's arrived at the academy she felt like was actually making some progress.

Not because she had almost mastered the trick by dinnertime, but because someone, namely a boy who saw her more as an equal than a damsel in distress, had taken the time to actually teach it to her, instead of just assuming she should know it. It was a gratifying feeling, and it made her feel competent for the first time in weeks.

She was feeling so confident at dinner, in fact, that she politely declined Gray's invitation to sit with him and headed straight for the table Kanoi shared with his best friend her cousin.

She sat down next to him and swung her legs over delicately around the bench. The conversation halted noticeably, but she took to opportunity to interject.

"I have a proposition for you." Miko informed Kanoi. He was staring at her, wide eyed, biscuit half way to his mouth.

"What do you think your doing?" He sputtered at her.

Unfazed, she continued. "Clearly, I'm behind in Liu's class. You obviously know what you're doing."

"Wait," Kanoi insisted, putting down his dinner roll. "Did I somehow give you the impression earlier than this was okay? Because this is not okay."

Miko rolled her eyes. "What are you afraid of? Your reputation being damaged?"

Kanoi glared at her. "Something like that, yeah."

"I swear not to bother you in public again if you'll just hear me out." She held her hand up in a scouts honor sort of mode and Kanoi rolled his eyes.

Liang was sniggering from across the table. "Oh come on, Kanoi. She has a proposition for you!" And he burst into stifled laughter. Kanoi snarled and Miko was sure he kicked Liang under the table because Liang flinched and the laughter died noticeably.

"I'm sorry, have I said something?" Miko asked, glancing between Kanoi and his giggling friend.

"Oh, go on with it, then." Kanoi sighed heavily, picking up his biscuit and taking an angry bite from it. "The damage has been done."

"I want your help in Liu's class." Miko stated firmly. Kanoi looked at her like she had just uttered an unspeakable curse. "I know you don't believe he's being unfair to me, and that's fine. But thus far you're the only person on campus I've actually learned anything from, and as much as I'm sure you'd like me to fail out, I'd rather not. I'll take whatever help your willing to offer."

Kanoi stared at her for several long minutes after she finished. It was so long in fact that Miko began to fidget slightly under his scrutiny. Eventually, he looked away, blinked several times, and shook his head. She almost took this for a negative answer when he lifted his hand to his eyes and let out a breath of amusement.

"You get everything you want, don't you?" He asked, and Miko thought his tone was a mix of envious and abhorred. "I'm willing to bet that there hasn't been a single time in your life where you've been denied something."

Miko opened her mouth to object, but Kanoi kept right on talking.

"After all, you got into the academy, breaking thousands of years of traditions without a second thought." Kanoi shrugged helplessly, and she didn't like the way he was acting one bit.

"Thousands of years of sexist traditions. They were wrong." Miko insisted.

"That wasn't enough though, was it?" Kanoi stopped himself and sat up straight as he turned to face her. "I'll tell you what. Prove to me that there was at least one time in your life where you didn't get exactly what you wanted, and I'll catch you up in Liu's class."

He stared her down, perfectly assured of himself and that he had found the perfect solution to winning this, but Miko knew better. She considered for a moment walking away and letting him, because spending time with this arrogant, indecisive, tradition ridden ninja was looking less and less appealing, but she didn't.

She stared him down with an equally powerful stare of her own before she answered.

"I was nine." She told him quietly. "I didn't want my mother to die."

The practiced look of indifference on Kanoi's face didn't waver, but after several seconds he looked away in something like shame.

Unfazed, Miko demanded her reward. "Did I win?"

Kanoi sighed heavily before looking back up at her, and he nodded. "Meet me tomorrow, half an hour after lunch ends."

Miko nodded, stood with her uneaten dinner, and walked away.

* * *

"Kanoi?" Liang's muffled voice questioned and Kanoi looked up from having his face buried in his arms just enough to see him. "There's this thing called tact… and you don't have it."

Kanoi kicked him again.

"Ow!" Liang squirmed. "That hurts you know!"

"Oh, Liang, someone has to be the punching bag for the incredibly insensitive prick, there." Chin-Hwa told Liang sadly.

Kanoi sputtered. "This is half your fault you know!" He told Chin-Hwa, and Chin-Hwa looked round before pointing to his chest.

"Mine?!" He demanded.

"Yes, yours!" Kanoi lashed out at him instinctively. "Almost 2 weeks now you'd been commiserating with me about how spoiled she is and how her title shouldn't mean anything and you never think to mention that her mother is dead?"

"If I'd have thought it was any of your business, I would have. Seeing as how you wanted nothing to do with her, I hardly thought it would come up like that!" Chin-Hwa argued back, and Kanoi just let out a disagreeable sound before turning back to the dinner he had no interest in eating.

Now he really felt like a prick. Her mother had died? He might have lost his evil twin, but at least his parents were still alive. He couldn't imagine what dealing with that would be like. And then he'd had to go _assuming_ all the wrong things about her… well, in all fairness, he was still mostly right. He was just a bit more humble about it.

"Oh, David and Goliath, how do I fix this now?" He asked his two friends at last. They shared a look between the two of them before looking back at him.

Liang swallowed the mashed potatoes in his mouth before shrugging. "I don't know mate, but you'd better do something, because I'm sure you can't just go around offending dead family members without raking up some kind of bad karma."

"Well, regardless of what she wants us to think, Miko is still a woman." Chin-Hwa mused. "Try something girly. Like apologizing."

Kanoi grimaced. "I'm not very good at that."

"Yes, my foot's noticed." Liang complained, and Kanoi was about to kick him again for good measure when Chin-Hwa held up his fork thoughtfully.

"What about flowers?" He remarked casually. Kanoi sputtered, and Liang cracked up.

"Definitely not!" Kanoi objected, pointing his form at Liang threateningly. "Not a word."

"Oh, and I had such a good jab, too. If my foot wasn't killing me…" He warned menacingly, but Kanoi shook his head and pointed his fork at Chin-Hwa instead.

"No, no, definitely not. There is no way I'm giving her flowers. Come up with something else." He commanded, and Chin-Hwa held up his hands defensively.

"This is your problem, mate. I am in no way required to help you get out of it." Chin-Hwa told him happily, and Kanoi scowled.

They fell silent for several minutes, and Kanoi tried desperately to come up with something better to do. He was already training her, and she had won that fair and square. Unfortunately, Kanoi didn't exactly pride himself on being the most creative around campus, and he could come up with nothing better than the flowers idea. But even if he were to go along with that, he couldn't for the life of him figure out where he would go about getting the flowers. He'd probably have to walk all the way down to town, and he couldn't do that tonight. Besides, everything would be closed…

"Not that I'm considering it," Kanoi asked cautiously, "But suppose I was… where would one go about getting flowers?"

Liang's grin was infuriating, but Chin-Hwa at least looked thoughtful. "Ask Grey and them." He nodded over his shoulder to the table Miko usually inhabited. "They've been showering her with gifts since she got here."

"That is an even worse idea than actually giving her the flowers. Not doing it." Kanoi said firmly, and shoved a bite of food into his mouth.

Kanoi did give a token glance back at Grey's table, and found it slightly odd that tonight he was sharing it with Eamon Gensai and his cronies. Eamon was quite the school elitist, much like Liu. He had been associated with Kiya when he was still here, and that hadn't boasted well for his reputation at all. It didn't seem to be fazing him much, though, and Kanoi couldn't understand what business he would have with Miko's personal fan club, Alan Grey and company.

That further excluded from his mind asking Grey, because the last thing he needed right now was a run in with Eamon. If his brother had been a dark ninja, Eamon was certainly on his way to becoming one himself.

"It doesn't matter," Kanoi said aloud. "There is absolutely no way in hell I'm getting her flowers."

* * *

Fate was cruel, he decided nearly 2 hours later, standing in a heavily mudded and swampy area, looking for anything colorful.

Oh, come on, he'd had to do _something_. Seeing as flowers was the best idea they'd had, here they were, middle of the night in the forest, looking for flowers somewhere on campus.

"See anything yet?" Liang asked up into the trees. Chin-Hwa had used his air ninja trick to get up higher and look ahead of them.

"There's one! Go to your left!" The shout from above them came, and the obliged, step by soggy step.

"You don't suppose this counts as using our ninja powers for personal gain, do you?" Kanoi asked Liang as they trudged forward.

"Nah. Only if we tell someone." Liang insisted, and Kanoi rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, that won't be happening. Ever." Kanoi agreed.

He was only lucky that, though they would tease him about it for the rest of his life, he had friends willing to do this with him. And he was quite grateful, even knowing he'd never hear the end of it.

"Alright, there it is." Liang bent down and picked the tiny yellow flower from its place at the base of the tree. "And that makes… 3."

He handed it to Kanoi, who put it with the other two, and they looked sadly at their very tiny bouquet.

Chin-Hwa joined them from the trees, and he too gazed at the pathetic little flowers. "I don't supposed 3 is enough, then?"

Kanoi sighed, and Liang echoed him. "Bloody fantastic. We're going to be at this all night. She'd better forgive you."

So they set off again, looking for more flowers. They figured if they could just get to 7 then they might have enough.

"I swear, the day we're in charge around here," Kanoi remarked, as they often did when they wished something at the academy was more accommodating, "first thing I'm doing is putting in a whole lot of gardens. Dozens of them. Save brave young men like ourselves this sort of ridiculous trouble."

* * *

Miko awoke that morning as she did every morning. The light was coming through her tent flaps, and she roused herself out of bed and got dressed like usual. She missed home terribly in the mornings, and she missed her bed more so at night. The creature comforts they offered far outweighed her tiny tent, but she tried not to think about that.

It was a good thing that her father had always taught her to rise at first light, because without her amulet glowing warm against her chest to wake her each morning, she relied on the sun instead.

She felt slightly less secure without her amulet around her neck. It used to warn her when people she should be aware of were near, and so she had had no worries about coming to train at an all male school. Now, though, she had to devise over way of keeping herself safe. Sleeping with her bokken at her side was one of them.

It wasn't that she feared being hurt, exactly. It was just that her father had taught her to be cautious first and sorry later, and she was more glad than ever. She touched the fresh, crisp letter on her bureau, smiling gently as she thought of home.

She had written her father telling him of all her adventures thus far, and he had written back promptly, telling her that she would have to write him more often if so much had already happened.

And Shang Dominae was incredibly understanding about the loss of the families amulet.

_I trust your judgment, my daughter, and I trust that you and the amulet were in full agreement with where and to whom it must go,_ her father had written. _What we must remember is that we were only guardians of the amulet, and it chooses who must carry it. Wherever it is now, we can be assured that it belongs to whom it was always meant to belong. _

The letter had helped her quite a lot, and he had signed it as he always had.

_Be brave, my little Joketsuzoku._

Miko smiled, rolled the letter up and placed it in one of her drawers. For as long as she could remember, her father had told her storied about the Joketsuzoku, an ancient race of warrior women in Asia. While her mother had always called her some variation of princess, she had always been a warrior to her father.

She grabbed a hair tie to pull her hair back as she headed out of her tent for sunrise meditation. Something crunched underneath her foot, and as she looked down she sighed.

Not another batch of flowers! This was getting absurd. This one though was slightly more pathetic than the others she had received; it had a daisy or two, and there were some dandelions, which looked like flowers but were technically weeds. She grinned a little bit, for they must be running out of flowers. The deliveries would have to stop soon.

But this one had a tiny note attached to the string holding the wilting flowers together. She opened it, and it read:

_Miko-  
Sorry.  
-K_

Miko stood there for a moment, shocked. K? Kanoi? It was impossible. If not impossible, at the very least implausible. Kanoi had given her flowers?

Well, apparently he was human after all. Miko smiled and looked around to make sure no one was looking. Grinning to herself, she took the flowers inside her tent.

They were the first flowers she had taken inside her tent since arriving.


	4. Waste A Moment

_AN: I know, it's been a horribly long time since I've updated *anything*, but I have my reasons. Hopefully, you're all still out there reading and enjoying! I know nothing incredibly important happens in this chapter, but I hope you enjoy it anyway, and the next one should be on its was in about 2 or 3 weeks. Hopefully. Feed the author, pretty please!_

He waited for her before he started doing his usual kata. If she was going to come, he wasn't going to be caught off his guard this time.

And he was going to wear a shirt.

Kanoi laid out the two practice bows he had, set his bag on its usual branch, crossed his arms and waited.

She was right on time. He heard her footsteps coming down the hill and glanced up at the sun through the trees. It was half past eleven, almost exactly. He pushed himself up off the tree and uncrossed his arms. He picked up his bow in one hand, and as she came around the tree he picked hers up and tossed it to her.

She caught it with reflexes only a ninja could have, and then reached up to brush some hair away from her face. How she could make even the simplest thing like catching a practice bow seem girly was beyond him.

She grinned slightly at him, and he tilted his head towards his side. She obediently took her place, and Kanoi thought that maybe this wouldn't be so horrible after all. Miko was an extraordinarily fast learner, and if she was going to do exactly as she was told she might be caught up in a matter of days.

"Right, so, basics then." Kanoi began, and he held his staff out in front of him. "Shizentai!"

Miko assumed the proper position, and Kanoi turned to her to inspect it.

"See, right there, already." He sighed, and tried to be nicer. "Your head is too high. That's disrespectful."

"My father says the position of the head has more to do with your honor than your respect." Miko intoned.

"Well, if you want to do what your father says, fine. If you'd rather disrespect every sensei at the academy…" Kanoi trailed off, and Miko leveled out the position of her head with a sour look. "Better. Now, you are a girl, so your stance is probably okay, but point your toes to the sides slightly." She had her feet closer together than was proper, but he figured it would be less proper for her to be in a mans stance.

"What for?" Miko wondered. With a sigh, Kanoi reached out and knocked her backwards. She yelped as she fell, clearly not expecting to be knocked off balance so easily, and when she looked up at him her eyes narrowed. "Hey!"

"Do you even remember watching Eric get knocked off his feet?" Kanoi asked snappily. "You've got to be able to hold your ground."

"You didn't have to push me," Miko complained. She still hadn't risen from her spot on the ground. "You could have just said that."

"Yes, well, this was decidedly more effective." Kanoi argued hastily. "Now come on, get up."

Inconceivably, Miko held out her hand to him like she expected to be pulled to her feet. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"For someone who's such an advocate of being treated equally, you sure do act like a girl sometimes." He accused, but he reached out to help her up anyway.

As Miko took his hand she grinned and snapped back happily, "And for someone who claims to hate that, you sure do a nice job of picking flowers."

She was on her feet and much too close for comfort, with that confident smile right in his face. He really wished he could hold her gaze and keep his cheeks from blushing, but he couldn't, and he looked away as his tan cheeks turned bright red. "Let's, uh, not talk about that."

"Sure." Miko agreed easily, and she dropped his hand. He took a deep breathe and reassumed his stance.

"Shizentai!" He called again, and this time Miko's stance was much firmer.

She ruined it, though, but saying "They were lovely, by the way."

"What did I just say?" He demanded angrily, and instead of having the desired effect of striking fear into her heart, Miko started giggling instead.

"It really wasn't necessary you know." She put her staff down and turned to look at him with a smile, which he promptly ignored. "After all, I was the one pestering you to practically retrain me."

Kanoi shrugged uncomfortably, despising once again Miko's insipid kindness. "It really wasn't anything… I just figured, you know, best not to go around insulting a girls family and all."

Miko nodded appreciatively, but he cut her off before she could say anything nicer.

"Now, are we going to train or are you going to stand around all day?" He demanded, and Miko took the hint. She reassumed her stance, and Kanoi let out a sigh of relief.

They spent at least a half an hour going over footwork. After that, another good twenty minutes was devoted to the shape and positions of the hands, and he had a difficult time explaining the differences between the basic samurai hand formation and the basic air ninja hand formation and when they were supposed to be up or down, and Miko got quite frustrated with the whole manner of hand formations so Kanoi thought it best to move on. They had used up the two hours Kanoi regularly trained in incredibly fast, and he feared he might have just confused Miko more than helped her by the time he had to go to his sword work class.

"Not at all!" Miko insisted as they trudged up the hill. "I feel loads better already. Just the fact that I had the positions broken down and explained helped quite a bit."

"Well… good." Kanoi said awkwardly. It was sort of nice to be praised, but he wasn't very good at accepting her compliments just yet.

"You might have a future in teaching, you know." Miko intoned as she nudged his elbow with her own.

Kanoi gave her a skeptical look. "I didn't become a ninja to turn into a sensei."

"Well, what do you want to do, then?" Miko asked, genuine curiosity showing on her face.

"Uh…" Kanoi paused, caught slightly off guard. "I'm not entirely sure. But I don't think I could handle teaching."

"I'm sure whatever you choose to do you'll be good at, as long as you put your full heart into it." Miko said with a smile, and Kanoi stopped to look at her.

When she turned, he tried not to sound snooty. "You don't have to be so nice, you know. Really."

"Does it bother you?" Miko wondered with a tilt of her head.

"Not… exactly." Kanoi tilted his own head to mimic her. "I've just been awfully horrible to you, and your obligation to be nice to me _has_ expired."

"I'm not nice because I'm obligated to be, for your information." Miko placed a hand on her hip, a very girly action. "I choose to be. Call it personal prerogative."

Kanoi just shrugged. "Whatever you say. Isn't it exhausting, though?"

"Isn't it exhausting building those walls up to keep everyone out?" Miko fired back easily.

Kanoi raised his eyebrows. "Not so nice, after all."

"I'm full of surprises." Miko agreed with an irritating grin. "Maybe you should try taking a few of those shields down every once in a while. You might enjoy it."

Kanoi decided not to answer her. "Same time tomorrow, then?"

Miko just smiled happily. "I'll be there!" And she turned and skipped off in the girliest way possible.

* * *

"I have a problem." Kanoi declared as he entered his tent later that night, after his last elemental class. Chin-Hwa and Liang were both there, playing cards.

"Yeah, you do. I've just lost your good boots." Liang told him, and Kanoi had to do a double take.

"Wait. You're betting my things while playing cards with Chin-Hwa?" Kanoi demanded of him and Liang looked stunned, like Kanoi should know this already.

It was Chin-Hwa who answered, "Of course. He's already lost all of his own things."

Liang offered a half shrug at Kanoi's furious glare.

"You can't hold him to those bets, you know." Kanoi told Chin-Hwa, who was looking through his cards conspiratorially.

"Why not?" He demanded casually.

"Because you cheat!" Kanoi lifted up Chin-Hwa's arm to reveal the ace tucked in his sleeve, and Liang let out a scandalized sound.

"Cheater!" Liang exclaimed, jumping up dramatically.

"Oh, thanks!" Chin-Hwa took his arm back roughly, scowling up at Kanoi. "Now I won't even get the things I won honestly!"

"Damn right you won't!" Liang agreed. "Give me back my watch!"

"Guys!" Kanoi silenced them with his own shout, and when they were both looking at him, he repeated, "I have a problem."

"If this has to do with Miko…" Chin-Hwa warned, and Kanoi brought a hand to his head and frowned as he rubbed his eyes.

"Of course it's about Miko. Why wouldn't it be?" Kanoi laughed half heartedly. "Ever since she got here, Miko has pretty much summed up my problems!"

"She'd better have forgiven you, after we spent all that time getting those damn flowers. I was near dead at elementals this mourning." Liang stretched and yawned for good measure, and Kanoi took a seat on his bed dejectedly.

"Chin-Hwa, why is she so freaking nice?" Kanoi asked rhetorically. "I've got to figure out how to combat her! I think I've got my guard up and all the while she's reading me like an open book!"

He saw Liang and Chin-Hwa exchange a look. "What happened, now?" Chin-Hwa asked him.

Kanoi shrugged uncomfortable. "Well, nothing really. She just… She's disarming." Kanoi crossed his arms over his chest, fully aware of how childish it made him look and not caring. "I don't like it."

Chin-Hwa sighed dramatically. "Well, your just going to have to get used to it then, because the last thing I'm going to do is get involved with whatever tangled web and you and my cousin are weaving. Just leave me out of it."

Liang looked less perturbed. "Now, Chin-Hwa, you're no fun. Don't worry Kanoi, you still have my help!"

"Which is just about a good as no help." Kanoi joked, and Liang just rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, joke all you want, you know you love me!" Liang said as he stood. "I'll be taking my things and returning to my tent, thank you very much!"

Chin-Hwa just waved him off. "Oh, get out of here, cheapskate."

Liang stuck his tongue out at them before disappearing through the tent flap.

Chin-Hwa put away the table he and Liang had been using while Kanoi striped of his uniform and got ready for bed. They were all exhausted from the night before, and they had earned a good nights rest.

As Kanoi laid down in his bed, Chin-Hwa sighed and turned to poke him.

"Look, Kanoi. Miko is infuriating, don't get me wrong." Chin-Hwa began, holding up his hands defensively. "She's arrogant, and stubborn, and far too bold, but that last one might just be the Dominae in her. Regardless, she has been through quite a lot and I'm certain she doesn't intent to irritate everyone she meets on this campus. Despite everything she's been through, her mother dying when she was so young, surviving the ensuing inheritance battle, and helping to banish your brother in her first few hours on campus, just to name a few, she has never lost the one thing that I most enjoy about her; her kindness. So instead of complaining about it, why not just make the best of it, hmm?"

Kanoi thought about that a second, and then his curiosity got the best of him. "She was disinherited?"

"If you want to know anything else about her, try asking her instead of me." Chin-Hwa snapped. So, family ties won out after all.

Chin-Hwa lay down and blew out the candle that lit their tent, fully intent on going to sleep. Kanoi processed what he'd said, and tried his hardest to reevaluate all of his interactions with Miko and see just what it was that irritated him so.

He was left with no answers as to why he hadn't been able to stand her, and he started to feel like quite a jerk. Perhaps he'd just been looking for reasons to dislike her, after all. And yet as he tried to convince himself that he could be friends with Miko, he was still left with an irate feeling. It seemed it was going to be difficult to change, now.

Despite how tired he was, sleep eluded Kanoi Watanabe that night.

* * *

"So, what do you do on the weekends?" Miko asked Kanoi the next day as they trained in Kanoi's preferred area.

"I, uh… why?" Kanoi asked her, glancing over his shoulder to see she was doing the correct stance. He got out of his stance to correct her without asking anything else, and then he went back to leading her in the kata.

"I was just wondering if you knew of anything exciting around here to do when we're not training." Miko explained, trying to form her hand into an unfamiliar position to mirror Kanoi. After another brief pause for him to come and fix her footwork for the hundredth time that day (he was being incredibly patient with her) she continued. "I spent the first weekend I was here speaking with the committees."

Kanoi didn't answer, and she figured that was acceptable. They'd all had to testify for the records about the events of Kiya's banishment and Cam's sudden disappearance.

"And this past weekend I tried going into town, but I only got myself lost." Miko grinned sheepishly, and Kanoi stopped to correct her hands again.

"Here, look, it's more like a bird's wing. The thumb is curved under and the fingers are close enough together to cut the air, but they're stacked on top of each other, too, see?" He demonstrated again and she nodded.

"It's just so hard to distinguish between that one and the feather hand." Miko explained.

"The feather hand is reversed, and the goal isn't to cut the air, it's to create a current." Kanoi told her, demonstrating both and then taking his place in front of her again. "Keep trying, you'll get it."

Miko grinned to herself, and quickly wiped the look off her face as they moved into the next form. Kanoi had just been nicer to her than he'd been yet, and she couldn't help the glee that inflicted upon her.

"There are student activities on campus." Kanoi continued a moment later, when he seemed satisfied he didn't have to fix her pose this time. They moved into the next one. "Some school sponsored, others not. I'm surprised Grey hasn't invited you."

Miko was getting tired of training, so she could have been mistaken, but she thought she heard a bit of jealousy there. She was probably mistaken. "Alan Grey isn't the only person on campus I choose to spend time with."

She caught the flicker of a smirk on Kanoi's face as he turned to raise her arm and tuck her knee. "If I remember correctly, you weren't _choosing_ to spent time with him at all."

He caught her eye with an amused look, and Miko let herself grin at his small victory. "Touché."

He returned to his place and they continued with their kata.

"What kind of activities do they have?" She wondered some time later, as they were picking up their things.

Kanoi frowned. "Come to think of it, probably not much you'd like."

Miko gave him a look that implied he'd better not mean because she was a girl, and he just shrugged.

"Card playing, sometimes movies, campfires, sparring tournaments, that sort of thing." Kanoi answered. "Sometimes a group of kids will just go down to the beach and wave run, but those are mostly water students."

"Wave run? How far is the beach?" Miko demanded fervently, and Kanoi looked at her.

"A few miles, maybe? I've never paid attention." He looked curious about her choice of interest. "Can you even swim?"

Miko pretended to be furious. Clearly, Kanoi knew the difference between her real rage and pretend rage, and he blocked her swing at his arm easily. "I've have you know I grew up on a beach! Of course I can swim!"

Kanoi smirked slightly. "Alright, if you say so. I was only looking out for your wellbeing." He insisted, but Miko scoffed.

"You've been taking lessons from Chin-Hwa." She chided, but Kanoi's face clouded over as she said it.

Before she could ask, he changed the subject. "You grew up on a beach?"

Miko nodded, knowing it would be rude not to answer. "My family's home is right next to Oozuna Beach, in Japan."

"I've never been." Kanoi admitted, somewhat sorrowfully. "The only parts of Japan I've actually seen are Tokyo's airport and my grandfather's country house."

Miko was going to answer, but Kanoi had finished gathering his things and beat her to it again.

"If you want to know what's going on, try looking at the bulletin board in the mess hall. They usually post that sort of thing by Friday nights." He was backing up as he spoke, and just before he was about to back into a branch he ducked.

Miko smiled at how well he knew his training ground. He had probably smacked into those low branched enough to know them all by heart.

"I don't train on the weekends," Kanoi continued, pausing as if to see if that was alright with her.

"I suppose I'll see you Monday then." Miko nodded, and Kanoi scampered off up the hill and disappeared.

* * *

She did check the bulletin board that night at dinner, and found a group was going wave running that weekend. She didn't recognize any of the water student's names; they were all probably far more advanced than the one class she was taking. She thought that maybe if she asked Lenny Wharloski he might be able to point some of them out to her.

She didn't have to spent time with them once they were at the beach, she made her case to Jeffery and Bryn, two of the water boys going. She just needed them to show her where the beach was and how to get there. Bryn was more than happy to let her accompany them, and she thanked him happily and accepted the invite to sit with them that night. Jeffery looked a little put off, but he warmed up to her when she mentioned she didn't want her pudding after all.

So she had plans for Sunday, but that still left all of her Saturday unaccounted for. She had spent a great deal of time reading since her arrival, but she hadn't expected to have so much downtime. She had already gone through the small library of books she had brought with her, among them some of her favorites that she had read and re-read time and again. Her copies of Utopia, Sense and Sensibility, Herland, Little Women, and Woman in the Dunes all needed to be rebound from having been read so many times. She was less than enthused to read them again, having only just finished with them, and she had gone through her new books just as quickly.

She thought that perhaps the academy library might have something that would spark her interests, so she found herself headed there late that Friday night.

It was nearly empty when she got there, so she was free to poke about the shelves as she pleased, without being gaped at.

She saw many titles she recognized, both of western authors and of eastern. The library appeared to be very diverse, and it was no wonder that the wind academy prided themselves so highly on it.

She walked among the shelves, looking through hundreds of years of Ninja History, and one book in particular she pulled out was titled simply, "Way of the Ninja: A History". She found another book about the history of the samurai, which she mostly already knew but figured would be an interesting read anyway. She moved onto the small fiction section then, and pulled out a few smaller titles so obscure she didn't recognize them.

The last book she pulled out seemed a bit analytical, but she thought it might be amusing, titled "A Practical Application of Myths and Legends of the Ninjetti". She giggled a bit at the idea.

She had 6 books by then, and she thought that would be more than enough for the week ahead. She wondered suddenly if she was allowed to check them out like a regular library or if she had to read them here, and her spirits sank slightly.

"You're the Dominae girl." A voice from behind startled her and she turned, dropping her books.

A woman was standing in front of her. It was the strangest feeling to see a face so similar to her own when she'd become so accustomed to being surrounded by men all the time. She was so shocked that all she could do was nod.

"Looking for a bit of light reading?" The girl asked, and Miko smiled at her.

She bent down to pick up the books hastily. "I didn't know anyone else was here, you startled me." She apologized, glancing up at the girl.

She was wearing a very traditional dress, but it was no kimono. Her hair was pinned up on her head precariously, and her face was somewhat intimidating.

"And you are?" Miko asked at last as she managed to stand.

"Liu," the girl said slowly, carefully, as though judging Miko's reaction. "Yuina." She bowed, and Miko was caught of guard by the formality of the name and introduction.

She bowed in return, processing the name and wondering if and how this girl was connected to Sensei Liu. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Yuina did not look impressed. Instead she glanced down at the stack of books in Miko's hands. "Would you like to read these here, or would you prefer to check them out?"

Miko smiled happily at her. "Check them out, if that's all right."

Yuina nodded, and turned to walk away. Miko thought maybe she was supposed to follow her, and she was right because they reached a desk where Yuina handed her a list. "Write down your name and the titles you have."

And Yuina didn't say anything else to her after that. Miko wrote down the titles, thanked her and when no reply was forthcoming, thought it might be a good idea to hurry and get out of there.

As she was leaving, Yuina's voice echoed to her at the doors. "You're not at all like I imagined you."

Miko turned, expecting to see Yuina at the desk, but it was empty. The smile disappeared from her face as it seemed Yuina had disappeared, and she hesitated. "Thank you?"

She waited, and when there was no other reply she turned quickly, leaving the library and darting back to her tent.


End file.
